Q & A # 1

Q: Some claim that Joseph Smith never practiced polygamy, and that the practice was retroactively attributed to him by later Church leaders is that so? Also, how did polygamy go from a mainstream Mormon practice, to one disallowed within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?

A: The general consensus is that Joseph did teach polygamy. Even the former RLDS Church (now known as the Community of Christ), which for the majority of its history held doggedly to the line that Joseph was not a polygamist, has come around to an acknowledgment (at least in its scholarly community) that this was not the case. Polygamy was practice by a small inner circle of Church leaders to whom Joseph introduced the practice. There were leaks however, as even during Josephs time people both within and without the Church began to suspect that it was going on. This gradually became an open secret in regards the Mormons, until it was formally and publicly announced by the Church in 1852, once the bulk of the Mormons were safely re-located in the Great Basin region. To shore up the understanding that the practice was allowed, even encouraged by Church Doctrine, President Young had Orson Pratt, and early opponent of polygamy among the Church leadership, give the speech in which it was announced. It seems reasonably clear to me that most if not all the Church leaders of the Young/Taylor era (say about 1850 to 1880’s) believed the practice of plural marriage was somehow tied up to there eternal salvation. However beginning about 1889, and continuing into the early 1900’s, a change occurred among the bulk of Church leadership, away from that interpretation. Some did ‘fall by the wayside’ and continue to practice polygamy, secretly within the Church for a period, and later without and in breakaway bodies. The most famous of these is arguably the late Church President John Taylor’s son, Apostle John W. Taylor.

Feel free to ask more questions.